SHILLONG:
United Democratic Party (UDP) chief Metbah Lyngdoh, on March 6, said the party decided to join the National People’s Party-led alliance after the attempt to forge an alternative alliance fell through because adequate number could not be garnered.
He also criticised the Voice of the People Party president Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit for describing the brief exercise to put together an alternative alliance as a “political drama” by the UDP.
Speaking to reporters, he said it was wrong on the part of the VPP chief to say that the UDP had staged a political drama.
“I am not here as a president of the party to stage a drama. I have never done any sort of drama to fool the people and I will never do that in the future as well. That is very clear from my side,” he said while refuting Basaiawmoit’s charges on Sunday after the UDP and People’s Democratic Front (PDF) extended their support to the NPP-led alliance.
Lyngdoh said that the attempt to form an alternative government could not materialise after three MLAs, which included two from HSPDP, and one Independent decided to support the NPP-led government.
He said that after seeing the mandate of the people of the state, the UDP felt there was a “voice” that wanted the party to take the lead in government formation. “On that very same day we had the number of about 30, which means we can stake claim. But by evening, we came to know three of them had disappeared so we ended up with 27. So how can we stake claim with only 27 when the other side of the group has got 32,” he said.
The UDP chief further informed that they waited for almost two days after the president of one political party assured to bring back the MLAs but nothing happened.
“And we had received a message from the other side that they want us to be part of the government and we found we don’t have the number with us so we as a party decided to join (the NPP government),” he said.
The former assembly speaker said that his party has not demanded the post of deputy chief minister adding “However, talks are still going on about the overall arrangement”.